


tell me the sunrise

by zenelly



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Enstars Shipping Olympics 2019, M/M, it's ballroom dancing time folks bc i am gay and predictable
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-14
Updated: 2019-07-14
Packaged: 2020-06-27 12:32:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19790956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zenelly/pseuds/zenelly
Summary: For the Enstars Ship Olympics! Team Eimugi.In which Eichi teaches Tsumugi how to waltz in the name of fixing his posture.





	tell me the sunrise

**Author's Note:**

> aahhhh oh my gosh this is my first time doing something like a ship olympics and i very much ran out of time between this and work but! it's here and it's done and I like it, so that's three things it has going for it. team eimugi, for that sweet, sweet, bittersweet love.
> 
> This is inspired by sonya (@aoi_nagareboshi on Twitter)'s beautiful art for our team this year! I'm weak to dancing so this is no surprise to anyone who knows me lmao

Despite how tired he feels, how sleep pulls at the corners of his eyes, present in the oddly numb swell of his lips, Tsumugi enjoys nothing more than early morning practice. Just him, a stereo set in the corner of the practice room. A song crooning over the speakers. The burn of his muscles. The blur of his vision as he avoids looking directly at the mirrors, afraid of what he’ll see.

The first thing to be afraid of. How clumsy and foolish he looks, trying to be graceful.

Tsumugi dips with the lilting voice, turning slowly as he does. This is not the high energy dances of the stage, but something more somber instead, aching with a clarity that cuts from his heart. He follows the notes as best he can. A turn here, an extension there. Slow. With care taken in every arch of his foot and bow of his back. Grace, Tsumugi thinks, in waiting. In the absence of movement, steady and clean lines. Step and lift, extending his leg to the ceiling as he bends forward with a sweep of his hands.

The early morning light gives the world a hazy blue film, further blurring his sight as Tsumugi dances.

"Shoulders up, Tsumugi-kun."

The second thing he fears. Eichi Tenshouin’s piercing, unforgiving gaze.

(Such a strange thing, to fear and covet all at once. To want nothing more than one set of eyes on him, hot and aching and desperate for it, only to feel sick and unworthy the moment they land.)

“Tsumugi-kun.”

Ah, yes. He isn't sure when he slumped again, but at Eichi's words, Tsumugi straightens, lifts his chin, breathes out into the strain of his back muscles. Carefully. Light and Air. Effortless. Idols do not show strain. _Fine_ , the best of the best, elegant and graceful, does not show strain.

A cool hand runs up his spine, stopping between his shoulder blades. Tsumugi doesn’t shiver. Even though his entire world narrows to a pinpoint focus. The touch burns through him, and Tsumugi has to wonder if Eichi knows that he’s immolating from the inside out.

“I must admit, I’m surprised by how quickly you’re improving,” Eichi murmurs. He presses here, against his shoulders, and there, against his neck, smoothing Tsumugi’s rough edges with the ease of long practice.

“It’s thanks to your instructions, Eichi-kun. I would still be floundering without you.”

Eichi hums, neither agreement nor dismissal. “You keep forgetting your posture part of the way through the routine, though.”

Tsumugi feels his face go hot, dropping his gaze to the floor. Ah, and he had been foolish enough to think that he was doing well. Of course he wasn’t. Not up to Eichi’s standards anyway.

With a sigh, Eichi steps into Tsumugi’s space, abruptly severing his self-deprecating train of thought. Tsumugi flounders backwards but doesn’t get far before Eichi grabs his wrists. “We’re going to try something else, alright, Tsumugi?”

“Al…right? Whatever you say, Eichi-kun.”

His lips quirk in a smile. “You always say such sweet things.”

Ah. Tsumugi offers Eichi a smile, and Eichi pauses, gaze flicking over Tsumugi’s face for a curious moment. Then he smiles back.

“We’re going to waltz.”

“What? Eichi-kun, I don’t know how to-“

“I know you don’t,” Eichi says, sliding one hand into Tsumugi’s and promptly short-circuiting all of Tsumugi’s higher thinking processes. “That’s why I’m about to teach you the basics.”

That. Makes sense. Sounds like torture, but it makes sense.

Eichi coaxes his hand up. “Hold me right here.”

Eichi arranges Tsumugi’s other hand on the curve of his shoulder blade, sliding his own to Tsumugi’s shoulder. They’re so close like this. Tsumugi can feel every pulse of Eichi’s body heat across the bare few inches separating them, can feel Eichi’s breath against his face. If he leaned forward, he could taste Eichi. If he did anything at all, Tsumugi could feel him against his stomach and thighs. Their closeness is intoxicating, terrifying.

And then his eyes meet Eichi's and there's something in his expression that stops him in his tracks, just for a moment. Eichi has always been pleasing to the eye, sure, but right at this moment it's almost impossible to look away.

He’s beautiful.

In his daze, Tsumugi has missed the timing for the first step. “I- I’m sorry, Eichi-kun, I-“

“It’s alright. Again, Tsumugi. Like this,” and it’s Eichi stepping forward, pushing Tsumugi with his presence, with his hands, with the very real threat of his body colliding with Tsumugi’s, ushering him back into a good first step. And then a second, wide and out to the side, before bringing his heels back together with a faint click, waiting for Tsumugi to do the same. “Don’t overthink it.”

“But I’m so _good_ at overthinking.” The whine slips out without input from his brain, and Tsumugi flushes again, deeper when Eichi’s crystalline laugh fills the practice room.

Eichi is handsome all the time, but especially so when he’s chasing laughter off his face, hiding the corners of his joy in the tuck of his mouth and crinkle of his eyes. “You try it this time, Tsumugi. Step forward. I’ll follow, I promise.”

Tsumugi takes a deep breath. Doesn’t think about his chest brushing against Eichi’s or the few centimeters up between his mouth and Eichi’s. Just focuses, right now, on the steps. One, two, _three-_

Ah.

He’s doing it. Carefully and it still feels like Eichi is somehow leading him, but Tsumugi moves them through the steps and the ones after it, his shoulders straight and chin held high, focused as he is on not ruining Eichi's form.

“Once more,” Eichi says, before they can stop for too long. “And this time, we’ll keep going. Do not worry about stepping on me. Even if you stumble, we can continuing dancing. One, two-“

They waltz carefully around the room. It’s easier, this time, with Tsumugi narrowly avoiding Eichi’s feet. Tsumugi loses track of how long they waltz, simple box steps graduating into Eichi teaching Tsumugi a few turns and embellishments, spinning out with a flare of his practice coat and in to-

Be-

Very-

Close.

Eichi’s chest is against Tsumugi’s. He is light and heat all the way down, and Tsumugi has never existed the way he does in this moment, a single line, only real wherever the gravity of Eichi’s body touches his own. He’s so close. His lips are sweetly parted, and Tsumugi has _known_ that Eichi is a little taller than him, but there is knowing and then there is realizing that all he has to do is tilt his head just so and then he could-

“That should help.”

“Wh-“ Tsumugi pulls his attention away from the pink swell of Eichi’s mouth. “What?”

“Your posture, Tsumugi-kun,” Eichi says, amused. He-

Oh god, he leans _in_.

Tsumugi’s brain officially shuts down. Thank you for coming, check your fortune tomorrow, this is all he has in him today. His nose brushes the softness of Eichi’s cheek.

“So now,” he murmurs, his breath a whisper against Tsumugi’s lips, “every time we dance on stage, just remember this. Remember being my frame.” And then, a remarkably impish smile, Eichi’s eyes glittering, dizzying, a jolt of lightning to Tsumugi’s poor heart, because such an expression is unfair when witnessed across a room and fatal this close up. “Remember to show me off to my full potential, Tsumugi-kun.”

“I… think I’m going to need more lessons to remember this fully,” Tsumugi murmurs.

Eichi closes the last bit of distance between them as he whispers, “Then I will be sure to instruct you thoroughly.”


End file.
